British Equestrian Federation appoint new performance management pairing

Britain finished joint second in the Rio 2016 Olympic medal table, behind only Germany, while their Paralympic colleagues topped the standings with seven wins and 11 medals in total.

And now, entering another four year Olympic and Paralympic cycle, the BEF hopes to progress their performance management process with the appointments of Waygood and Bartle.

Waygood will take up the role of world class eventing performance manager, while Bartle becomes the BEF's first ever performance coach.

The pair will take up their posts in January, and act as a replacement to departing performance manager Yogi Breisner.

"I am very excited and feel privileged to hold the highly prestigious position of performance manager for the British eventing team," said Waygood. "It has been a lifelong ambition, which I have dreamt about on so many occasions, having worked within the World Class Programme for the last seven years and seen the dedication of the riders and staff alike, I just can't wait to get going."

And Bartle, who transfers to the BEF from the perennially successful German setup, cannot wait to get started.

"It's exciting and yet daunting to be offered the opportunity to train the British team," he said. "On the other hand it's with sadness that I leave behind the German team and all those at the DOKR and the German Federation with whom I have worked over the last 16 years.

"I am equally delighted that Richard Waygood has agreed to come on board as performance manager for eventing.

"I am looking forward to building a strong and effective partnership with Dickie [Richard] - I can't imagine a more suitably qualified person for this position.

"I am really looking forward to building up equally strong relationships with the British riders and their home teams, the owners and the members of the support team within the World Class Programme, the BEF and with British Eventing." Sportsbeat 2016